Tag: Christian

A chat with @existentialpunk

adele

I had a great chat with @existentialpunk today (aka Adele) via direct messages on Twitter. I approached her via DM about the chat and I think we were both a little confused on whether we would continue on DM or on the public site. Either way we were asked later about our conversation and she agreed to allow me to share it on my blog.

I’ve had a great time getting to know Adele and this was just another step in that direction.

She describes herself on her blog like so::

My name is Adele and “i am thomas, doubter. i am judas, betrayer. i am nicodemus, reluctant in the night. i am st. john of the cross, soul darkened by love. i am a christian. i am not.” i am also “lost, wicked, and depraved but redeemed by the grace and beauty of God.”

i am a traveler who currently resides in Richmond, VA with my partner and love of my life, Katryna, and our two dawgs, Lady Dalmation, and Mushu, our Tibetan Spaniel. i am currently going through long-term treatment for Chronic Lyme Disease, other tick borne diseases, and heavy metal toxicity.

You’ll also realize quickly that she’s homosexual and not ashamed to admit that or that she’s a very proud Christian as well. Some may see that as an impossible match, others will appreciate the honesty. Some will agree with one of us, others may not agree with either of us. Either way, I hope you’ll take a little time to read the conversation below and get to know and understand her and others a bit better.

As one final note, this of course was copied from a conversation from Twitter – which of course means each response was limited to 140-characters and some messages crossed paths as well. So while it may look lengthy, there’s probably not much that’s very profound, but I hope its a starting point for our conversation to continue and for others to begin.

Jdblundell: id love to talk more about your ideas via twitter replies (public). we’ll disagree on things im sure about
JB: but id like a better understanding and hopefully find a stronger common ground about
ExistentialPunk: that would be fantastic. i don’t mind disagreements as long as their is kindness and respect. i suspect that from you! 🙂
JB: i’d hope they all come in grace and kindness and if not – call me on it!
EP: Thnx for expressing this to me! 🙂
EP: i will as you do the same for me!
JB: do you believe that all homosexuals are born as homosexuals? do some choose to live that way?
EP: i believe both born and environmental. i do not believe we choose anymore than u choose to be straight!
JB: well that’s not a public reply 🙂 would you prefer dm?
EP: i replied i thought dm. sorry. i am an open book so either is ok with me.
JB: yeah you replied via Direct Message. which is fine with me. can you expound on “environmental”.
EP: environmental i mean having a safe and supportive environment to come out. i did not for many years and finallly did!
JB: so folks can’t don’t choose to be one way or the other?
EP: i do not believe that. i believe also we live on a kinsey scale and sexuality can be fluid. 1 person can be totally straight, 1 can b gay
EP: and others can fall in the middle. 1 can be attracted to either sex. It. for me, is about relationship and how we love.
JB: makes sense. i can understand that view. not sure im there yet (agree totaly) but i understand it.
JB: my command regardless is to love all as Christ as loved me. what response do you have 4 Xians who say your ignoring Scripture?
EP: i say they cherry pick as well and misinterpret scripture by not giving heed to historical & cultural contexts. Usually we go in circles.
EP: i come to a place of agreeing to disagree. All have a right to their opinions/beliefs. If someone will be mean or hurtful to me i stop
EP: stop talking to them cuz i just get mad and hurt. Not healthy. Open dialogue like we r having is great. It took me a long time to get here &
EP: i have yet to arrive. i hold my beliefs loosely in that i could be wrong but this is how i am living cuz 4 so long i did not live. i amhappy
JB: i can c that. find it interesting that folks used to say u were born gay as a way to dismiss – now they say you choose as way to dismiss
EP: peeps like to twist things to their pov! i think as humans we all do this!
EP: peeps don’t have to agree with me. i just want to b treated fairly, equally, and with love. Isn’t that what Jesus is all
JB: agreed. im very careful to ever claim to understand God fully or know him totally. this podcast was helpful :: http://ck83d.th8.us
JB: and i think its totally different when you put a name and a face to any issue. hard to dismiss the homeless when you know one of them about
JB: hard to dismiss illegal immigrants when you know one of them. hard to dismiss LGBT when you know one of them.
EP: Pete Rollins is a very good friend of mine. i will give this a listen later!
EP: ooops, not the podcast with Pete Rollins you meant. i will listen to BOTH! 🙂
EP: Give me some history b4 i listen.
JB: well the podcast is with E Scott Jones – they just refer to the Peter Rollins interview (which is also very good)
JB: the E Scott Jones interview was a followup to a lecture he gave at Wake Forest. Hes a homosexual minister in OKC
JB: one of the hosts of the show (@chadcrawford) is a good friend of mine from college.
JB: do you think the marriage issue would “go away” if the govt quit giving special rights to married folks all together?
EP: i am for calling ALLcivil unions and those who want to get married in a church, gay or straight, can IF church wants to. You get over 1100
EP: federal rights being a heterosexual who is allowed to marry. We married in CA and r in legal limbo & have NOFederal rights. DOMAkeeps our
EP: marriage from being recognized in other states if the state does not have gay marriage legal. Marriage for straights and civil unions make
EP: gays separate but equal.
EP: Not all states offer us civil unions and those that do vary on the rights. We have to pay for attorneys to file legal paperwork that comes 2
EP: you as a married staright couple naturally and legally! i blog about all this stuff!
JB: i think i agree with you. Civil Unions for the feds and marriage for churches to choose who they marry or wont. dont force a church to.
JB: and like you said – civil unions for everyone. not just LGBT. no special fed rights for being married.
EP: YES! That was the lie about Prop 8 that churches would be forced to marry gays and be in trouble for preaching against it. Why Rick Warren
EP: pick by Obama hurt our community so much. It felt like a slap in the face when we were already knocked down by prop 8 passage.
JB: gotcha. well i was reading Gen 15-23 today and thought i’d chat with you a bit about my questions. thanks for sharing!
EP: anytime and THANK YOU for making the time to get to know me! 🙂
JB: sure thing! i hope we can get you on our podcast sometime soon. i think thomas may be contacting you about it b4 too long
JB: and keep that promise. if i say things not in love or grace about anyone – call me on it!
EP: COOL! i would love to contribute! Thomas has become a dear friend who has ALWAYSbeen loving and inclusive to me. We have never met in person
EP: YET! He is a lovely guy and also love his wife too. How did you 2 get connected?
JB: we “met” back in 05 or 06 through our blogs and found numerous common interests and just continued our friendship
EP: Cool! We met same way about 3 or 4 years ago. What a neat soul!
JB: yes. and if you can get that interview with Rollins or have other things you’d like to submit for our podcast feel free
EP: will do! Thanks!

Thanks again to Adele for taking the time to share and your willingness to chat! Look forward to carrying on the conversation!

How now should we live?

Jonathan Wilson-Hartgrove writes ::

In the neighborhood where I live, people sometimes “flip” a house to make a quick buck. They buy it cheap because it’s in bad shape, but rather than fix the structural issues that compromise the house’s integrity, they just put some fresh paint on the walls, install a few flashy fixtures, and slap some new vinyl siding on the outside. The house often looks fantastic, but underneath the flash it’s still the same old shack.

For some time in North America, the church’s work has looked a lot like like house-flipping to many observers. Jesus easily becomes vinyl siding, a quick-fix for turning our lives around. Christianity becomes a way to clean up and make ourselves look respectable in the eyes of others, when all the while we’re still on the same path. Christians do business more or less like everyone else, but we do what we do “in God’s name.” If truly following God’s call to abundant life makes Christians into well-adjusted middle-class citizens, it makes you wonder how Jesus ever got himself executed.

Read the rest of Wilson-Hartgroves post.

He raises some excellent questions. Is Christianity all about becoming a well-adjusted middle-class citizen? My characters in #nanowrimo are struggling with some of these questions as well (and I’m struggling with giving them an answer ;-)).

What would you say? How does a person know they’re a Christian or my preferred terms – a Christ Follower or a Follower of The Way? What does it mean to be saved? Is it only a ticket to heaven when you die?

Look forward to your responses.

emerging worship

Earlier this week blogger Mike Morrell asked “what sould emergent/emerging worship look like and sound like?”

I’m sure everyone has different ideas. Jonny Baker is big into the alt.worship scene. Others like Solomon’s Porch, are big on their community of faith writing their own songs and sharing them together. Others I know could care less what the music looks or sounds like – they’re more interested in the celebration and the sharing of stories/testimonies. They admit that their mind wanders during community singing and they may start thinking about work, home or motorcycles instead.

Either way I believe our worship should be defined as “celebrating what God is doing.”

Michael points to 4 key elements (suggested by Adam Walker Cleveland) that should be a part of “emerging worship” ::

  • gender-inclusive language (esp. in our language for God)
  • a shift from a I-YOU-me & God focus, and a refocusing on the community
  • a passion for the biblical themes of social justice, peace and a desire to speak for the oppressed
  • maybe just some more songs straight from scripture (or from saints and desert fathers), letting God’s work speak for itself, instead of pressing our own interpretation onto it, and onto the congregation that will sing the song

Some may say the words to the songs don’t mean much – but I’m a big believer that they do. When I play an artist like Derek Webb, Bob Dylan or Flobots on my Zune – their lyrics move me to action (or at least increase my desire to do something). U2‘s Sunday Bloody Sunday doesn’t allow me to sit back and ignore the violence going on in the world – it calls me to action.

And likewise, as I and others have said before, when I walk into church and only sing songs about being hungry or thirsty — I’ll probably leave feeling hungry and thirsty. But if the weight of the world is on my shoulders and I can sing songs of How Great Thou Art and How Great is Our God or other songs about the strength and might and love of my God, my burden is lightened and I’m more willing to submit control of my situation to God.

Michael points out one band that is attempting meet these four keys to emerging worship, Zehnder.

I got a copy of their album and it’s definitely a mix of musical styles. A little something for everyone perhaps. (That may be something that’s missing at encounter. We tend to lean more towards the rock or the softer acoustic/unplugged rock sound.)

On Going Up, the Zehnder brothers lyrically fit the 4 points that Michael and Adam point to, while mixing in original tunes as well as a rendition of What Wondrous Love is This. Musically I wasn’t as impressed the first time I listened to the album, but upon further listening and as the words began to sink in I’ve became more and more attracted to the music.

Musically I would say several of the songs are similar in style to Simon and Garfunkle others have more of an upbeat sound with almost a choral backing, especially on the song Rise Up ::

Rise up, feel the change!
The Resurrection comes again!
Rise up, believe the change!
We’ll never be the same again!

Spirit Born seems to have it’s musical and vocal styling influenced by Sting (download the free Mp3).

You know the wind blows, wind blows where it chooses
You hear the sound of it
But you don’t know, don’t know where it comes from
Or where it goes, it goes, it goes
Yeah, you know don’t know, don’t know where it comes from
Or where it goes, it goes, it goes

Blow through me, Wind, breathe on me, Breath, make Spirit born,
All of my soul, make Spirit born, Spirit born.

And Justice Jam could be possibly be confused with a Flobots track using backing strings, a hip-hop beat and heavy social justice lyrics (listen to a sample).

For justice I bust this flow for free
Used to be blind but now I see
Through the eyes of the elders who came before me
Like Malcolm and Martin and I can’t forget Mahatma Gandhi
Take a knee, homey / Hug an old bodhi tree
Realize how to be revolutionary
Destiny is divine when aligned with the truth
That resides deep inside that g-ride of my youth
Now I got proof of insurance and a photo ID
But I choose to tell time by Mayan prophecy – Oo, Let justice roll down…

Overall I think the Zehnder brothers have created an album that challenges us to much greater themes than much of the music you’ll hear on your local “Christian radio station.” It challenges us to think about our faith and how it impacts (or doesn’t impact) our daily lives.

I’m not sure the songs are as singable in a community settings as some that Dave Andrews has written but I definitely wouldn’t object to trying them out in a community setting.

But don’t take my word for it.

Go check out the band’s website ztheband.com and then purchase their CD from CDBaby.

And while you wait for the album to arrive, check out their 2003 rendition of Song of Peace ::

Give the band a listen and let me know what you think.

The Universal Declaration of Rights


The Universal Declaration of Human Rights from Seth Brau on Vimeo.

Thomas shared this on the nanolog. I love it! Excellent!

However I find myself asking more and more — what really are my rights? What can I really demand? Is it “fair” to say that each of these rights are God given rights? Or is it better to say that these are “man given rights?” I believe these are rights that we should fight for for others — but are we really being Christ-like when we demand these rights for ourselves? Can the two co-exist?

In America we have the American Declaration of Rights and we claim that all our rights come from God. But do they really? Does God really promise life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness — or is that us just trying to claim the place as God’s chosen people?

I really do believe that as Followers of the Way I should fight (I use that word loosely) to ensure everyone has these rights — but just not sure that the “American Way” is “The Way.” If we viewed every day as a gift — and worried less about what I wanted or needed, perhaps we’d be better off.

What about you? Do you think Christians should demand these rights for themselves? Should we demand them for others? And can the two co-exist?

Prayer for today life

Tim and/or Rebecca (probably the former :-)) share this on their family blog today. I think its a fitting prayer for me right now.

The prayer comes from John Piper’s book Taste and See

O Lord, by the truth of your Word, and the power of your Spirit and the ministry of your body, build us into people . . .

Who don’t love the world more than God,
who don’t care if they make much money,
who don’t care if they own a house,
who don’t care if they have a new car or two cars,
who don’t need recent styles,
who don’t care if they get famous,
who don’t miss steak or fancy fare,
who don’t expect that life should be comfortable and easy,
who don’t feed their minds on TV each night,
who don’t measure truth with their finger in the wind,
who don’t get paralyzed by others’ disapproval,
who don’t return evil for evil,
who don’t hold grudges,
who don’t gossip,
who don’t twist the truth,
who don’t brag or boast,
who don’t whine or use body language to get pity,
who don’t criticize more than praise,
who don’t hang out in cliques,
who don’t eat too much or exercise too little;

But
who are ablaze for God,
who are utterly God-besotted,
who are filled with the Holy Spirit,
who strive to know the height and depth of Christ’s love,
who are crucified to the world and dead to sin,
who are purified by the Word and addicted to righteousness,
who are mighty in memorizing and using the Scriptures,
who keep the Lord’s Day holy and refreshing,
who are broken by the consciousness of sin,
who are thrilled by the wonder of free grace,
who are stunned into humble silence by the riches of God’s glory,
who are persevering constantly in prayer,
who are ruthless in self-denial,
who are fearless in public witness to Christ’s Lordship,
who are able to unmask error and blow away doctrinal haze,
who are tough in standing for the truth,
who are tender in touching hurting people,
who are passionate about reaching the peoples who have no church,
who are pro-life for the sake of babies and moms and dads and the glory of God,
who are keepers of all their promises, including marriage vows,
who are content with what they have and trusting the promises of God,
who are patient and kind and meek when life is hard.

reminds me of this litany from Shane Claiborne:

may they both ring true in my life.